SAMANTHA Jade is racing the clock. The X Factor winner knows she has to capitalise on winning the show but wants to maintain her creative independence and stay true to her fans.

"I don't want to do anything too quickly but I also know that I need to get something out fast," Jade tells Insider.

Jade's debut single, What You've Done To Me, hit No. 1 and has registered three times platinum, meaning sales of more than 210,000. Her self-titled album of tracks she performed on The X Factor peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA chart.

After touring nationally with fellow X Factor competitors, Jade hit the studio and has been working on material with songwriters DNA, the chart toppers behind Jessica Mauboy's Running Back and Justice Crew's Boom Boom.

Now based in Sydney, Jade, 25, spent a few days with her family in Perth last week before returning to the Harbour City to head back into the studio.

Her first original album is slated for release through Sony Music mid-year.

"It is definitely going to be pop," she says. "But I want to play around with the sound because these days, pop is a little bit of everything."

Jade was already an established singer before The X Factor. She had been working for years towards becoming a star but needed the big-label backing that came with winning the show.

"I've done a lot of songs but they sound old now, so I'm revisiting those in terms of lyrics and titles because they were great ideas then, but I'm revamping things," she says.

Jade first registered on Insider's radar after signing to America's Jive Records in 2003 as a teenager, making her a label mate of Pink, The Backstreet Boys and Justin Timberlake.

She had also recorded the lead single for hit Hollywood teen film Step Up, which made it to 92 on the Billboard pop chart.

Her first single, Turn Around, was played on US radio and a couple of months later she narrowly brushed paths with Britney Spears in an incident that made international headlines.

Going through a bad stage back then, record label executives called on Jade to step in for Spears and record a video clip with a budget of $500,000.

But with Jade waiting in the wings on standby, Spears pulled herself together (12 hours late) and ended up filming the clip for her hit, Pieces Of Me.

Eventually, after being on hold with Jive for several years, Jade parted ways with the label and moved back home to live with her parents in Perth.

She says The X Factor was her last chance.

"I've been in the industry a long time now so I know what I want to do," she says.

"I want to do great, strong, pop records that have a bit of a flavour of everything in them."

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